Pilot changes flight plan to get sick child to the airport as quickly as possible

When a Russian pilot was informed that there was a sick child on his flight, he made the somewhat unprecedented decision to change his flight plan to allow the plane to land ahead of schedule. The Aeroflot plane was traveling from Moscow to Nizhnevartovsk, an oil-rich city in Siberia, when the captain was informed that a young passenger had a fever of 102 degrees. According to RT, he immediately contacted ground services to ask for permission to change his route toward the Nizhnevartovsk Airport.

An airport spokesperson told the news agency:

The pilot was allowed to make a final turn further north, in order to touch down 20 – 25 minutes ahead of schedule.

In actuality, the plane landed a full 50 minutes ahead of schedule, and an ambulance was already waiting to meet the plane.

In a statement to Road Warrior Voices, Aeroflot said

We confirm that a child on board flight SU1470 from Moscow to Nizhnevartovsk was taken ill with a high temperature. The pilot duly took responsibility for the situation and contacted air traffic control to land as soon as possible, and ensured that medical staff were waiting on arrival. The flight landed ahead of schedule at Nizhnevartovsk airport and the child was taken directly to the hospital.

Thanks to the decisive action taken by our pilot in the course of his regular duties, the child's condition is now stable.

As RT noted, most of the time, route changes are typically only approved in the event of severe weather or "fuel considerations." Maybe the pilot sensed the urgency of the situation or maybe he has young kids himself or maybe he's just a reasonably compassionate human. Whatever the reason, we're glad the child is feeling better and hope he has plenty of video games to help him (or her) as he recovers.